QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Canada Emergency Business Account
June 2, 2021
Honourable senators, I just can’t get past this first question from our leader in terms of what has happened and the fact that the government may be disappointed — but what are they doing? We see inaction.
For instance, yesterday, leader, I did briefly get to talk about what happened with these new businesses that started in 2020. They have not been eligible for the Canada Emergency Business Account. They have been promised action; they have been waiting over a year. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says that many of the small businesses which were created in 2020 have been unable to access any federal COVID-19 emergency support programs. Yet billion-dollar hedge funds received the wage subsidy — which is in line with what the leader was asking — as did companies that declared bankruptcy before the pandemic even began.
So these businesses are still waiting. Minister Freeland said in January that she took this issue very seriously and was looking at it closely. Then she brought forward a budget which did nothing to help these new, small businesses.
Leader, I guess I am asking: Are you going to help the new businesses? If you’re not, then let’s just say no. If you are going to, would you please find out, when will these businesses be able to have access? What will you do and when? We just want to understand what the action plan is. Could we have that answer before we rise for the summer recess?
Thank you for your question. There is no denying the fact that the measures that this government introduced over the last year-plus, in response, as the government has acknowledged on many occasions, were done with extraordinary dispatch in order to provide assistance as quickly and as effectively as it could. To a very large degree, I think the government has succeeded, with the help and support of all the parties in the other place and indeed in this place. Canada has weathered and is weathering the storm far better than it would, had the government taken a more cautious and conventional approach.
There are gaps. Not everyone, not every sector, will necessarily benefit to the extent they would like. That is also something that cannot be denied. The government continues to provide support to Canadians. The budget is replete with such examples. As soon as I know more and if the government has further programs to announce, in addition to the general support, this chamber will be the first to know.
I heard the word “if” the government has programs for these small businesses. I do recall asking the former minister Morneau, when he was in our chamber, about a tweet he made the day before he was supposed to begin a new program.
These small businesses — senator, I’m sure you appreciate as many in the chamber appreciate — work 16- to 20-hour days. In family-owned businesses, one day makes a difference, one cent makes a difference, in whether or not they close their doors. They have been waiting over a year.
You said “if,” so that concerns me. Will there be programs to help these new businesses that started in 2020 and have had zero access to any support? It’s not even benefits. They haven’t had any support.
My response to your earlier question — let me be clear — is that I do not know what new programs, if any, are being contemplated. Honourable senators, the programs that have been announced, the programs that have been extended, the support that is in the budget, are there for all of us to see. I understand your question to be what new or additional programs or tweaks to programs are being contemplated. My answer to you remains: If there are going to be new programs or tweaks above and beyond what is there, I will report this to the chamber at the earliest moment that I have that information.
I’m very aware of the importance of small businesses. I was a member of a family business. In the context of that, I ran some very small businesses. I’m not insensitive, nor is this government, to this challenge. The fact remains, the government has provided enormous support, hundreds of billions of dollars in support, for the Canadian economy and will continue to do so, so as to transition Canadians out of this pandemic.
